Judge agrees state oversight of cemetery should wind down

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A judge has agreed to wind down the state's oversight of a troubled Tennessee cemetery where hundreds of burials were mishandled and bodies were misplaced.

Davidson County Chancellor Carol McCoy on Wednesday heard recommendations by officials overseeing the investigation of Galilee Memorial Gardens, located in the Memphis suburb of Bartlett.

The cemetery was closed and placed under state receivership in February 2014 after its owner, Jemar Lambert, was charged with burying bodies on adjacent land and stacking multiple caskets in single graves. He pleaded guilty and is serving 10 years' probation.

Lambert left behind messy burial records and unkempt graves. Relatives of people buried at Galilee have complained they cannot find the graves of their loved ones.

McCoy did not schedule another hearing where the receivership would be officially ended.